By Logan B. Anderson

DOVER — The Delaware General Assembly passed a $5.1 billion operating budget for fiscal year 2023 Thursday, approving a spending plan that provide significant raises for the state’s lowest-paid workers and support the needs of school transportation providers and firefighters.

The budget, along with a $379 million supplemental spending plan consisting of one-time expenditures and contingency funds, now heads to Gov. John Carney for his signature, having both passed the Senate on Tuesday.

“The Joint Finance Committee had a difficult task of balancing numerous worthwhile funding requests against the need to be responsible. We’ve been able to work together to provide a real raise for state employees and retirees and fund various programs that provide necessary services to residents up and down our state,” said Joint Finance Committee Co-Chair Rep. William Carson. “I’m proud of this budget and what it represents to Delawareans – that we value our workers, teachers, seniors, bus drivers, health care workers, parents and children. I hope that our investments make a real difference in people’s lives.”

The operating budget, Senate Bill 250, is the result of months of public hearings and meetings to review Gov. Carney’s spending plan, which he proposed in January, and to solicit input from state officials, lawmakers and the public about how to best invest revenues.

The fiscal year 2023 budget stayed close to what Gov. Carney submitted as a proposed plan in January, according to state budget writers.

State worker salaries

Included in the spending package is a 9% increase for state workers currently making close to minimum wage and a 2% increase for those employees at higher scales. The package also includes a one-time $500 bonus for state workers and retirees.

“I want to thank my colleagues in the House for voting today to pass a fiscally responsible budget for the coming year that makes prudent investments in the human infrastructure that keeps our state running smoothly,” said Sen. Trey Paradee, chairman of Joint Finance Committee, on Thursday.

“This spending plan will address several of the difficulties our state experienced during the height of the pandemic, as well as help thousands of working families who continue to struggle with the lingering economic impacts of the worst public health crisis our state has ever faced. The members of the Joint Finance Committee and the staff of both the Controller General’s Office and the Office of Management and Budget deserve a lot of credit for getting these bills across the finish line.”

The fiscal 2023 budget represents a 6.8% increase from the current budget.

Sen. Paradee noted that while this spending plan is the largest in Delaware history, totaling more than $5 billion, it is not the largest percentage increase.

“If you went back and looked at other inflationary periods back in the 70s or early 80s, you would see that there were years where budget growth was far beyond the 6.8% that we’re seeing in this budget. Matter of fact, I believe there were years where it was not inflationary and you still saw years where it was above 6.8%,” Sen. Paradee said on the floor of the Senate on Tuesday.

The bills saw no opposition in the House of Representatives on Thursday. Two Republican senators — Colin Bonini, R-Dover, and Gerald Hocker, R-Ocean View — voted against the budget bill on Tuesday.

Childcare costs

Among the other items in the legislation is assistance for parents seeking childcare.

SB 250 would add nearly $19 million to Delaware’s Purchase of Care program, a subsidy that provides support for early childhood and after-school education for children from birth through age 12 living within 185% of the federal poverty limit. The funds help low-income families pay for their childcare so that parents or guardians can work or receive workforce training.

According to the University of Delaware’s Biden School of Public Policy and Administration, as of March 2019, purchase of care subsidized early childhood and after-school education and care for more than 15,000 children, with 65% of them 5 years or younger.

Bus drivers

The budget also adds $16.9 million to address recommendations from the Public School Transportation Committee, a group consisting of legislative and state budget officials, public and charter school personnel, and bus contractor representatives. Of that amount, $11.7 million will increase the minimum hourly rate for bus drivers. A workforce shortage that predated the pandemic and a brief strike at a major busing contractor threatened to cause severe disruptions for thousands of school children.

Sen. Paradee said school bus drivers could make as much as $21 per hour because of the measure.

SB 250 also increases the reimbursement rates for direct support professionals serving adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The $16.5 million increase will fulfill the promise of phased-in progress toward funding benchmarks established in the Michael McNesby Act, a 2018 law that required the state to increase the rates paid to direct support professionals to improve recruitment and retention of these positions. That funding increase will result in an additional $27.5 million in federal matching funds.

The budget also includes increasing the state’s Rainy Day Fund, that will help the state through leaner times, from $280 million to $316 million.

Highlights

Other highlights in the budget bills include:

• $104 million to provide a 3% pension benefit increase for former state workers who retired between June 30, 1992 and June 30, 2017 and a 2% increase for those who retired after June 30, 2017.

• $38 million to increase pension benefits for volunteer firefighters, the first pension increase of its kind since the program was established in 1986.

• $100,000 to every fire company in the state to help with budget shortfalls and equipment purchases

• $21 million to fund start-up costs for the Delaware Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program.

• $14.2 million to fund targeted education and support services for Wilmington students, as recommended by the Redding Consortium for Educational Equity and the Wilmington Learning Collaborative.

• $8 million to continue increasing mental health support in Delaware elementary schools.

• $4.7 million to restore the Senior Property Tax Credit to a maximum of $500.

• $3.6 million to increase rates for private-duty nurses and home health care workers.

• $2 million to create a Substitute Teacher Block Grant that will help school districts address teacher shortages through the hiring of full-time substitutes.